


Realise

by pastles



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-09-21 14:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9552605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastles/pseuds/pastles
Summary: Tsunade assigns Kakashi and Iruka to an uncover mission, and they both realise things.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mijikayo999](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mijikayo999/gifts).



> To mijikayo999: Thank you for pinch hitting! I hope you enjoy this. I do plan to finish this! But it turned out a lot longer than I expected (as usual) and life turned out to be a lot more of a jerk than usual -_-;;
> 
> To the KI Fest Mods: Thank you so much for organising this! And I'm sorry for the late submission

Kakashi knew that he was in trouble the moment he felt the sharp pain in his left thigh. He cursed under his breath even as he back flipped away from the senbon flying towards him, letting go a slew of shuriken at the same time. Pressing his back against the thick trunk of a tree, Kakashi spared a glance at the spot burning on his thigh. He pulled the scorpion off and crushed it under his sandal, all the while keeping his senses sharp for any approaching enemy. He took a deep breath, and pulled a kunai out from his holster.

A slight crunch to his left had Kakashi crouching down, kunai in one hand, the other reaching up ready to pull his hitai-ate off. When he spied movement in the grass, he let his kunai fly, another one in his hand before he'd even consciously registered what he was doing.

Bending low, Kakashi made his way towards where he had thrown his kunai when there was no reaction, mirthless laughing falling from his lips as he pulled his kunai out from a dead squirrel. When the pair of flying shuriken came towards him, he rolled forward and was ready with his weapon when he came out from it. He deflected the knife coming at him from the left and with a sweep of his feet, kicked at the person coming towards his right.

He was definitely looking forward to going home.

++++++++++

It didn't snow very often in Konoha, so whenever it did snow, it always felt special.

Iruka was also not immune to the spell that the snow placed on the village. Despite the fact that he would have to organise and participate in the village-wide snow clearing exercise later on, he still thought that the view from was his window was lovely.

He was about to rinse his cup when something in the distance caught his eye. He squinted and cursed. Ignoring the shards of his cup in his sink, Iruka grabbed his vest and rushed out, slamming the door behind him.

As he raced across the snow clad rooftops, Iruka prayed that he wouldn't be too late. Rushing into Training Ground 7, Iruka looked on in dismay at the body half buried under the snow. He paused and slipped a kunai from his leg holster, even though the fallen body had was wearing Konoha colours, and they were in the middle of the village, recent experience had taught Iruka that it was better to be safe than sorry.

Training Ground 7 was reserved for Academy use, and so most other active nin rarely used it. There was only one other set of footprints besides Iruka's, and those were dotted with blood. Iruka approached the still figure cautiously, regretting a little that he hadn't called for backup, but as he got closer, he was able to make out the bushy head of silver hair. He ran the last remaining distance, and knelt down next to the body.

Iruka worriedly placed fingers on the neck, worry and relief coursing through his body as he felt warmth and a weak pulse.

"Kakashi-sensei? Kakashi-sensei?" Iruka shook the body gently, careful to not jerk the body too much, knowing that he shouldn't move it until he had checked the extent of all the injuries.

A groan answered Iruka's calls and he heaved a sigh a relief. He turned his attention towards the thigh where the section of Kakashi's uniform pants were darkened and blood had stained the snow underneath it red.

"Kakashi-sensei, it's Iruka. I'm going to check your thigh." Iruka placed a hand on the upper part of the thigh, and looked up the body to see if Kakashi had any reaction.

Another groan answered his statement, and Iruka could see the lips moving under the mask. He briefly considered whether he should remove it to help ease any discomfort, but it didn't seem like Kakashi was in any discomfort from the mask. Then, Kakashi's visible eye snapped opened and it was like someone had turned on switch; all signs of pains disappeared from Kakashi's face, and the man actually started smiling at him!

"Iruka-sensei," Iruka blinked at the clear voice. "You can let go of my leg now."

"Ack, sorry about that, Kakashi-sensei," Iruka lifted his hand as though he had been burnt.

Kakashi coughed once, and sat up, all grace and smoothness, no signs of the wavering figure that Iruka had seen from his window.

"Are… are you alright, Kakashi-sensei?" Iruka shifted further away, conscious that he was too much into Kakashi's personal space; a little close for comfort for either of them.

"Hmm? Am fine, Iruka-sensei, just taking a nap on," Kakashi coughed and Iruka resisted the urge to pat the other man on the back. "On my way to the hospital."

"Oh, really?" Iruka followed Kakashi's lead and stood up. He cleared his throat and hoped that he wasn't being too obvious. Kakashi probably could tell, but Iruka's concern won over his embarrassment.

"I was just on my way to the hospital too. Mind if I joined you?" Face burning, Iruka endured the one-eyed stare from Kakashi, the eye narrowed before curving up.

"Sure, Iruka-sensei. I find myself hoping for some company this cold morning."

++++++++++

When he opened the door to the room, he was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Sakura and not the Hokage. And here he was, all prepared to endure any ribbing he would have received from the Hokage.

"Kakashi-sensei! What happened? Why are you…? I hope that's water, sensei." Sakura glared at the puddle growing under Kakashi's feet, and threw a thick towel at him.

"Ah, I decided to take a nap at Training Ground 7 on my way here." Kakashi wrapped the towel around him, glad for the heat in the hospital. Now that his body had rested a little, it had apparently decided that it was a good time to remind Kakashi of all its pains and aches. He was shivering and given the usual iron clad control that he had over his body, that was not a good sign.

Sakura's expression clearly showed that she didn't believe him, but she sighed and shook her head, expression softening. "If you say so, sensei. In any case, are you okay with me examining me? I could go get Shizune-san or Shishou if you want."

Kakashi stopped her by placing a hand on her arm, "Sakura, there's no need to trouble the Hokage or Shizune. From what I hear, you're doing a fine job, and picking things up really quickly."

"Eh?" Sakura's blush was almost as bright as Iruka's had been, but her eyes lit up, and Kakashi could tell that she was extremely pleased with the praise.

"And yet, you didn't believe me when I said I was taking a nap."

Sakura made sure that Kakashi could see her eye roll. "Well, Kakashi-sensei, if you don't mind changing out of your wet clothes, we can start the examination."

Kakashi deftly caught the dry clothes Sakura threw at him. He didn't particularly like having to strip but it would speed things up if he just changed.

Besides, the wet clothes were really getting uncomfortable.

The examination was quick; Sakura scanned his vitals and prodded at his leg wound. She took some blood and carefully and adeptly cleaned up and stitched his wounds, in a manner that was scarily reminiscent of the Godaime. She hustled him out of the room, promising to update him of any news and called for the next patient. She didn't even give him a chance to leave by the window. Maybe he WAS getting old, allowing his students to boss him around.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you all done?"

While Kakashi might have been surprised seeing Naruto's old Academy teacher after waking up from his nap (and it HAD been a nap. He'd been travelling non-stop for 3 days and the snow looked comfortable to his sleep deprived brain. He regretted that decision the moment he woke up and felt how wet his back had become). He'd been on the way to the hospital after dropping off his report, worried about how the wound on his leg didn't seem to be healing as well as it should.

He was not as surprised to see him outside the consultation room.

"Iruka-sensei, have you been waiting?" Kakashi hoped not, but given how the younger man shifted, a little embarrassedly, he'd probably HAD been waiting. Also, given the fact that Iruka probably had no reason to be at the hospital in the first place… that lie was really as obvious as the scar in his face.

"Ahem, not really. I just finished chatting with Midori-san, and was just about to leave."

"Midori-san?"

"Yes, she's the head administrator. Just wanted to give her the heads up that we'll be clearing out the snow in the village."

Kakashi naturally fell into step with Iruka. "And there was a need to tell her that because…?"

Iruka laughed, "The Academy helps out at times like this. We grid out the areas, and assign the kids to them. We also allow the graduation level class to use jutsu. Under supervision, of course."

"Ah." Kakashi could just imagine it now, "Good luck."

Iruka laughed again, a soft snicker this time. "Yeah, we're going to need all the luck. Especially if it continues to snow."

At that statement, both ninja looked up at the grey skies. It seemed clear, but you'd never know. Kakashi said so as much, and Iruka shook his head woefully.

"One can always hope. Ah, Kakashi-sensei…"

Kakashi paused in his reading to glance at Iruka. He'd pulled the book out as soon as they had left the hospital. He listened to Iruka with half an ear, making the appropriate responses at the appropriate places. It was almost like having a conversation with Gai, but with less declarations of youthfulness, and a lack of the ability to actually tune the speaker out.

"Iruka-sensei?"

"I've got a bit of time before I have to start at the Academy." Kakashi looked on as the other man rubbed the back of his back, under the collar of his vest. He had a sinking feeling that he knew what Iruka was going to say.

"Do you want to get some breakfast with me?"

Yes was such an extremely dangerous answer, and as such, Kakashi was almost tempted to say it.

"Ah… but if you're tired…"

Kakashi wondered how it was to live like that, where all that you feel could be seen from every line in your body.

"Maybe another time, Iruka-sensei. I really need to… water my plants."

Kakashi was used to disappointing people, and yes was really too dangerous.

"Ah," Iruka laughed again, but this time his chuckle was tinged with embarrassment. "I understand. Well then, I guess this is where we part ways."

Kakashi nodded and opened his book again, but his attention was all on the back disappearing back.

He really should have gone out of the window.

++++++++++

Even though his face burnt with embarrassment all the way home, Iruka was distracted from his thoughts of the morning by the virtue of the fact that he became too busy to think about anything else.

While the village children were playing in the snow, holding mock battles with their loosely packed snowballs, academy students, along with genin teams and chuunin were hard at work in the village, clearing out snow packed areas, melting the ice off the more commonly used roads, salting the roads, and fixing anything that might had been destroyed by the snowstorm. This was a tradition handed down by the Shodaime Hokage, and it seemed like the Godaime was intent on carrying on her grandfather's practice.

Of course, it wasn't all work. The civilians were usually grateful for the ninja's assistance, and they made sure cold shinobi were kept warm by providing copious amount of hot chocolate, amazake and hot miso soup. It was a good time for the denizens of Konoha to get together.

And Iruka was right in the middle of everything. They had set up a command centre near the Hokage Tower, and Iruka kept a close eye on all the academy students as they were sent off to their duties. He helped with the coordination of all the volunteers and made sure that the younger genin and the students knew that they would have to face him if they didn't take their jobs seriously.

"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei!" A panting Konohamaru skidded to a stop in front of Iruka. It was Iruka's hand on his scarf that prevented his face first plunge into the tent pole.

"Breathe, Konohamaru." Iruka patted Konohamaru on the back as the young boy tried to catch his breath.

"Konohamaru-kun! Did you have to run so fast?"

"Moegi-chan, Udon-kun."

Iruka nodded at the chorus of greetings from his former students. It didn't take long for Konohamaru to catch his breath and to inform Iruka that he was needed by the Hokage. Surprised but not too alarmed by Konohamaru's urgency, Iruka handed over his duties to another chuunin at the desk and made his way to the Hokage's officer.

++++++++++

Kakashi had barely gotten out of the shower when the summons from the Hokage's office arrived. He fed the messenger bird some seeds and dressed quickly. Popping a soldier pill, Kakashi checked his weapon and strapped on his holsters, his various hidden weapons and shrugged on his vest. A few hand signs, and a puff of smoke later, he was standing just outside the window of the Hokage's office.

Surreptitiously cracking his neck, Kakashi ignored the pains and aches with the experience of a full time ninja who was extremely good at his work. It was not the first time that Tsunade had called on him immediately after a mission, and it won't be the last. That was just the way things were.

"Kakashi, Sakura tells me that you went in for an examination this morning."

So it wasn't a new mission, Kakashi's only outward reaction was a blink of an eye as he sat on the windowsill. "I did, Hokage-sama. It's standard procedures for shinobi to report to the hospital if they've been outfield for more than 15 days."

Tsunade nodded, she would know, she was the one who set that rule in the first place; or rather, she had pushed for that rule to be implemented and Minato-sensei had agreed with it.

"I've got the results of your blood test. And there are some anomalies that we have to check."

Kakashi heart gave one strong thump, but he managed to slow it down. A bead of sweat slid down his back, and he felt cold even after the hot shower he'd just had.

"Don't make that face, brat." Tsunade glared at him. "We're not saying that there's a problem, but we might have to pull you off active field duty while we investigate this further."

Not a problem? There was an issue with his body and did the Godaime just say that he was would be taken off active duty? How was that not a problem? That would be as good as telling Konoha's enemies that Kakashi was not alright. That was most certainly Not A Good Thing.

"Ah, he's here. Good."

Here? Who was here? Kakashi reined in his wayward thoughts. This was not good, letting his thoughts wander. This was how shinobi died.

"Hokage-sama."

"Iruka. Good work with the snow clearing." Tsunade's smile was sharp and anyone could see that she had something up her sleeve.

"Th-Thank you, Hokage-sama." Iruka crossed the room to stand at attention next to Kakashi, not even sparing the other ninja a glance.

"I heard that you were the one who brought Kakashi to the hospital this morning?"

"Ah." Iruka seemed to be giving his answer a great deal of thought. Kakashi didn't understand why. Iruka happened to come across him while he was napping, and he then decided to accompany Kakashi to the hospital. He really was a very nosey guy.

"I just happened to come across Kakashi-sensei as he was… erm… taking a nap." Kakashi gave a mental nod at Iruka's answer. "And since we were both going to the hospital, I just… went there with him."

Kakashi made a mental note to treat Iruka to some ramen soon; for no other reason that the other man probably help Kakashi avoid trouble with the Hokage.

"Well, never mind about that. I have a mission for the both of you."

Wait, what?

++++++++++++

It was amusement that filled Iruka as he contemplated the silent man sitting opposite him. They were in his flat, after receiving the mission from the Hokage. Separated by his low coffee table with 2 cups of tea cooling between them, Kakashi had his nose buried in his book and he had not looked up from it ever since they had arrived there 2 hours ago.

"So…" Silence had never bothered Iruka, he'd grown used to silence from a long time ago, but he felt that it was prudent to get the ball rolling. Given what he knew about Kakashi (courtesy of Naruto), he rather suspect that if he didn't say anything, Kakashi might just disappear out of his window without them getting anything done.

Silence.

Iruka forged on, "Anyway, Kakashi-sensei, if you have any…"

And was stopped short when Kakashi straightened, closed his book and leaned forward, balancing his elbows on his knees.

"It would be better if we don't make this too complicated, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka nodded in agreement. Complicated plans had a way of unravelling at the most inopportune moments.

"So why don't I break your leg and we can say that I've been assigned to look after you?"

"WHAT?" Iruka started at Kakashi like he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

"No? Shame," Kakashi leaned back against the sofa.

"Maybe we should attempt to break YOUR leg, you already have a wound on it already, anyway." Iruka glared at Kakashi's leg nastily. "It's really more believable if I'm the nursemaid."

Kakashi shook his head, "That won't do, Iruka-sensei. We're supposed to keep my injury a secret, remember?"

"Shame." Iruka sighed, loudly, as though he really regretted not being able to break Kakashi's leg.

"Truly, I think you'd look good in the medic-nin uniform."

Iruka narrowed his eyes at Kakashi but all he could see was what he guessed was Kakashi's amused expression.

"I do have an idea, and it might work if you're up to it."

Kakashi slouched back into the sofa, "I'm up for anything that you are."

Iruka laughed at the obvious leer Kakashi threw his way.

Early the next morning saw an urgent for Kakashi that required him to leave the village almost immediately. No one knew what was in it. The Hokage herself had rushed into the aviary with the sealed missive and had tied it to the bird with her own hands. She rushed back out, pale and shaking, once the bird was safely on its way.

++++++++++

Iruka stretched, working out the kinks in his back and shoulders. It had snowed again in the morning and the snow clearing team was out in full force.

"Hey, Iruka."

"Niji-san!" Iruka smiled as a redhead ninja walked towards him, holding up a rolled up scroll.

"Area D's cleared up." Niji handed the report to Iruka, and rested a hip on the table. "Seriously, I like the snow so much better when I'm indoors."

Iruka laughed as he stamped the approval on the sheet. "I know what you mean."

"And it would be so much better if you had someone to share it with."

"Definitely," Iruka carefully put Niji's report away. "Are you going to the party tonight?"

Niji slid off the table, winking at Iruka. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. Gonna see you there?"

Iruka nodded and waved as she walked off, and nodded at the next waiting ninja.

"She totally wants to get in your pants." A new voice popped up from behind Iruka.

Iruka paused in the act of getting Anko's report from her, and he turned to look at Aoba, who pushed his glasses up.

"What? Seems that way to me."

Iruka and Anko exchanged looks and burst out laughing. Aoba just looked at them as though they were idiots before snorting and stomping off, muttering about nutters and snow driven madness.

Anko was the first to stop laughing, but she couldn't stop the chuckles from escaping, even as she clutched her stomach. "Oh, my tummy hurts." She wheezed. "Seriously, how did that guy even make jounin? I thought it was a pretty open secret that Niji doesn't go for cock."

A cheeky grin spread across Anko's face. "At least not as much as you do."

Iruka also finally managed to get himself under control. "Oh please, not everyone is as nosey as you."

"Whatever." Anko pulled a stick of dango from her bag, stuck it into her mouth and slid one off with her teeth. "I'll see you later then."

Iruka nodded absentmindedly, a smile still on his face as he reached for the sheet of paper a small genin was trying to hand in. "I'll see you later! Shitzu-chan, thank you for your hard work. How was everything today?"

"Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka let his students chatter on, as he accepted the work reports. In his head, he was already thinking of the party that was part of the festival the shopping district arranged every year. It was a huge party and unless Iruka was out on a mission, he tried to go with his friends.

It was a very good time for one to get lucky, and Iruka fully planned to make full use of his luck that night.

His date had better not be late.

++++++++++++

Kakashi spent most of the time after rushing out of his flat in a nearby town. He really wished that the Hokage had sent her orders much later but knew that it was good to have that extra bit of time to prepare.

So, it was a silver-hair, masked shinobi who walked into the forest and a brown-hair, unmasked man with purple markings on his face who strolled out of it. He shifted his pack higher onto his shoulder, and he moved with the grace of someone who knew how to use his body; but he didn't wear a village hitae-ate, and he introduced himself (with a smile that made the fishmonger's wife blush) as Sukea, a travelling merchant.

So, when the sun began its descent, Sukea left the village on a cart with some of the wine-sellers' best alcohol, and with a jaunty wave, he set off towards Konoha where there was to be a huge party that night. It was really good timing on Sukea's part to be going towards Konoha now.

Kakashi gently patted the mule that he had gotten from the cart seller. He had been about to pull the poor creature to the slaughterhouse, but Kakashi had managed to persuade him to sell it to him as part of his purchase of the cart. It was evident that the previous owner had taken good care of it but it was obviously old and unable to pull as much.

But Kakashi hadn't bought that much goods and they made rather good time. When he reached Konoha, the street party was already well underway but Kakashi still made sure that his newly acquired mule and alcohol were safely housed before making his way to where he was supposed to bump into Iruka. He needed to make contact first.

In any case, Tsunade-sama would probably be more than willing to buy any leftover sake from him.

Kakashi smoothly slipped into the crowd, keeping a hand on his hidden dagger and an eye out for Iruka's ponytail. He wondered if Iruka's plan would work, it was a simple and straightforward plan, but sometimes simple and straightforward was the best way to go. Just look at Naruto.

Someone banged against him, and Kakashi had to stop his instinctive reaction to grab and subdue. Especially when he smelled the alcohol and noted the mess of brown hair in front of him.

Iruka was good, very good. Especially if he was able to slip under Kakashi's radar like that. Of course, that was also probably because Kakashi already thought of Iruka as harmless, in that it was likely Iruka would not attempt to stab him in the back for no reason.

A drunk (an act?) Iruka peered up at him from behind messy hair, and he hiccupped, "Hello? You look familiar, have we met?"

"Ah," Kakashi hoped Iruka didn't catch his eye roll, but Iruka had insisted on it. "But I would surely recall such a lovely vision as you."

Iruka snorted, that bastard. He was the one who insisted that Kakashi use a cheesy line from Icha Icha, and this was his reaction?

"I'm Suka, retired shinobi, sometimes merchant and photographer. Mostly traveller."

"I'm Iruka…"

"Hey, did Iruka get lucky again? Bastard."

Kakashi tensed slightly as another arm draped across his shoulder. "Man, why does Iruka always get lucky? I thought you gave this up already?"

Iruka frowned and removed the arm. "Hands off, I saw him first."

"Hi!" Kakashi beamed at a smirking Genma. "I'm Sukea."

Genma's eyes narrowed but all Kakashi did was to continue smiling. He cocked his head and moved willingly when Iruka tugged at him.

"Mine."

Genma's narrowed gaze focused on Iruka. "Iruka…"

Iruka's nose wrinkled, "Don't worry, I'm not THAT drunk."

"Uh huh. You…" Genma turned his attention back to Kakashi. "I know where he lives."

Kakashi nodded at the implied threat, and smiled at Genma, careful to keep his expression benign and non-threatening. He watched Genma walk away with a bemused expression. "Your friend's very protective."

Iruka hiccupped and leaned closer, "We watch out for each other. So… my place?"

"Do you always work so fast... Iruka, was it? Don't you want to go shopping?"

An extremely dirty smile spread across Iruka's face, one that Kakashi was sure that none of his students had ever seen. Unbidden, an image of Iruka above him, hair framing his face wearing that exact same smile rose in Kakashi's head. He blinked and forced the image away, telling himself that this was a mission and he needed to concentrate. 

"Why waste time? Besides, I can work slowly when the time is right too."

Kakashi groaned, soft and low, and he snaked an arm around Iruka's waist. "I guess we can always go shopping tomorrow?"

"Let's see how tonight goes." Iruka winked and stepped closer, lifting his arms to circle Kakashi's neck and they were gone in a soft swirl of leaves.

++++++++++

Iruka could barely hold onto his laughter when they popped into his flat. He managed to keep it to a low chuckle when he released his arms from Kakashi and moved away from the other man.

"I can't believe that you actually…" Kakashi's eyes (Iruka was extremely curious to find out how he even managed to hide his Sharingan, and wondered if Kakashi would be willing to tell him) widened and Iruka's finger on Kakashi's lips stopped his speech.

"I believe any more should be done in the bedroom, Sukea-san." Iruka could se that Kakashi was not impressed by his cheesy lines from the eyeroll.

And here Iruka thought that such an avid fan of the Icha Icha series would at least appreciate them.

Iruka removed his finger and held out his hand, palm up, and smiled approvingly when Kakashi slipped his own hand into it.

_It's just a job, Umino. Don't think too much about it. He doesn't need you to teach him how to do his job._

Iruka ignored the small voice in his head and pulled Kakashi the short distance to his bedroom. The door clicked close behind them and Iruka locked it. He didn't bother turning the lights on; the light from the streetlight outside bright enough to give the room a soft glow and for them to still see everything quite clearly. Pushing a little chakra into the seal tag that he set earlier at the window, Iruka armed it and in sign language, he motioned for Kakashi to wait as he pulled down the blinds and lit a candle. He went around the room to activate the various seals and tags, glad that even if anyone had been spying on them that it would seemed rather natural for him to be soundproofing his room, even if it did seemed a little over the top. Iruka heaved a sigh of satisfaction when he finished, he turned to let Kakashi know that it was okay to speak.

Only to meet with a bemused expression.

Iruka raised an eyebrow, "We can speak now, but it's probably still be safer to do so softly."

Kakashi nodded, "Those seals and tags…"

"Ah, they're a modified seal set that would block out the sound from escaping within the boundary."

"Modified?"

"Ah, I've modified the original system so that we can still hear sounds from outside, and anyone who is attempting to spy on us now will only see an empty room."

Iruka couldn't help but feel a little proud when Kakashi's eyebrows (both of them!) lifted, but he just shrugged. "I like working on seals."

"Evidently."

"Enough about me, do you think that this would work?"

"Well, it does give me the perfect excuse to continue seeing you at night."

Iruka nodded, and tried to act nonchalant even though he could feel his ears grow warm. "I know it's too soon, but have you heard anything, or is there anything you need me to follow up?"

"Actually, I was at Kinoue Town this morning, and I heard some very interesting things."

Now it was Iruka's turn to raise his brows. Kinoue Town was through the Great Forest, and usually a 9 hour walk or a 3 hour chakra-enhanced run. For Kakashi to make it there and back in a day with the supplies was really quite impressive. 

"There _have_ been more than the usual number of delivery carts passing through them recently."

Iruka nodded. That wasn't surprising; Kinoue was one of the routes to the shipping ports from Konoha, and the festival going on would add to the increase of visitors to the area.

"Seems like quite a few of them were manned by shinobi, but they weren't wearing any uniforms. Sae-san," Kakashi smiled at Iruka's raised eyebrow, "She's the fishmonger's wife, told me that one of the containers from the carts fell off and broke. Luckily for everyone, the gentlemen who was escorting the carts moved fast enough to grab up all the scorpions before they were able to escape off too far away."

Iruka bit on his lower lip as he contemplated what Kakashi had told him, but he couldn't help smiling when Kakashi added, in an extremely dry tone, "She was extremely impressed by how fast they moved."

Iruka patted Kakashi on the arm soothingly, even though he was grinning widely. Really, they weren't close enough for the casual physical contact, but Sukea had an easy air around him, one that made Iruka feel that it was okay for him to get closer. Kakashi was always polite, friendly even, but he had always held himself at an arm's length.

He was pleased when Kakashi didn't pull away. Iruka was actually really impressed with the henge that Kakashi had on. It had to be really powerful to even hide the sharingan.

"Ah, Kaka… Sukea-san, are you okay with holding that up for so long? If we're careful, I think you can drop it while we're in this room."

"Huh? Oh, it's fine."

And Iruka felt his world tilt when Kakashi signed that it wasn't henge.

++++++++++

Kakashi couldn't help his grin as Iruka's mouth gaped opened. It wasn't often that he was so honest about something personal; deflection and misdirection were more his style.

He could really count on two hands the number of people who have seen his real face and who were not, one, his parents, two, his dead enemies, or three, his medics (and that list included his Hokage, and one of them WAS his medic).

And while it was true that there wasn't a need for Iruka to know what he really looked like, he also didn't see the point in lying to Iruka. They were going to be working quite closely for the foreseeable future and it wouldn't do to start that new partnership with lies.

Maybe he was just tired of hiding behind a mask.

Kakashi was surprised when Iruka recovered shortly, and the didn't other man didn't say anything except for a, "You okay with it, yes?" to which Kakashi shrugged and Iruka rolled his eyes before getting up and pulling out a map from a hidden compartment in the wall. It occurred to Kakashi that the other man had probably shown him the compartment as some sort of reciprocation for Kakashi showing his face.

Iruka had always struck Kakashi as someone with an extreme sense of fairness. He'd thought so when he first seen him trying to teach Naruto. Despite the fact that his parents had died in the night of the kyuubi attack, Iruka had not treated Naruto like the rest of the village had, and had instead been fair (but strict) with the young boy.

That had impressed Kakashi.

They spent the rest of the night perusing the map, which was the layout of the festival and the various stores. Iruka had gone through the festival checked out the stores while Kakashi had been out of Konoha. He had even managed to actually help Kakashi secure a store at the festival. Using training as an excuse, Iruka had even been able to procure a list of all the people entering the village for the past week. The Hokage had wanted their activities to be as low-key as possible

Which meant that they were unable to go through official channels for any information that they might needs. Usually Kakashi didn't mind, sometimes it was easier to do things off the books, and Tsunade had given them a very tight deadline.

As dawn broke, Kakashi stood and stretched. He ignored that Iruka was staring at the area where his shirt had ridden up. 

"I should get going."

Iruka blinked, eyes bright and not at all like someone who had just spent the whole night up going through stacks of papers under the dim candle light after imbibing a lot of alcohol.

"Ah, breakfast before you go?"

"Sure, why not?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *rises from the ashes of the KuroDai tag on AO3* I. Am. Aliveeeeee. I actually typed this out _ages_ ago, I just haven't posted it. It's meant to end here, but it doesn't feel right ending it here, so there _might_ be more? I swear I'll finish _something_ this year even if it kills me  >.>
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Warning: Unbetaed except by me? So please point out any mistakes or whatnot.

Breakfast with Kakashi was one of the oddest thing ever in Iruka's experience, even after the third or fourth time.. By unspoken agreement, they refrained from talking about work and acted as though that they were 2 people who had a good night together and were looking forward to having more of those.

Kakashi had been funny, charming, and flirty, and Iruka had to take special effort to remind himself that they were both only playing roles and the man with the expressive mouth and easy smile was not what he was acting like.

And then it was sending Kakashi off at the door with a discreet peck on the cheek, something that Iruka had never done before and something that he was very sure Anko was going to ask him about very soon going by the twitch of the curtains in the window from across the street.

Kakashi knew that Anko stayed near, Iruka made sure to tell him that, just so that the other man would take extra care when he actually came over. Iruka assumed that the kiss was all for Anko's benefit but he was still unable to stop blushing as he looked on while Kakashi disappeared down the street.

It was back to normal lessons after that, and Iruka hoped that the physical exertions the kids had for the past few days would get them to settle down and pay attention to some of the theory he was going to attempt to teach them.

Some students, like Naruto and Lee, did much better learning out in the field; some, like Sakura, did better when they studied the theories before applying them in their work as shinobi. But at the very least, they all had to learn and strengthen their foundations before Iruka would even consent to them taking the genin test.

Then it was off for a short shift at the mission desk. Iruka kept his eyes and ears opened for some of the things Kakashi had told him to take note of, but besides an incident between Hana's ninken and another jounin's butt, the afternoon had passed relatively quietly.

But Iruka was still on edge.

When Anko strolled through the mission office doors, along with Genma, the moment his shift ended, Iruka's heart dropped. He sincerely hoped he would be able to pass their scrutiny.

"Irukaaaaaa," Anko bounced over, and leaned forward on his desk until her face was almost touching his.

Iruka pushed his chair back and stood up, "Anko, I got to pack up. Can't this wait?"

"Not after what I saw this morning," Anko singsonged, dango stick in her mouth bobbing up and down.

Iruka sighed, long and drawn-out, his friends were total busybodies. "It was nothing, Anko."

"Nothing?!! Nothi…" Anko quietened down when she saw the look Iruka threw her. "Oh well, whatever. Are we going tonight?"

"Can't, I've plans." Iruka handed over the reports to his replacement, and updated the other ninja.

"Oooh?" Anko nudged Genma, who had been suspiciously silent. "Our boy's got a date."

The blush that appeared was natural, "Maybe?"

"Iruka."

Iruka patted Genma on the arm reassuringly, "Don't worry. He's not a serial killer, well… not any more than we are. And I CAN take care of myself, you know."

Genma sighed and nodded, "He just smells fishy, that's all."

Anko chortled, "Maybe we should get Hatake to smell him."

Iruka laughed along with Genma, but the burst of pleasure he got when he noticed the figure leaning against the wall next to the teahouse was a little worrying.

"Well, at least he's got better time management than Hatake." Anko snickered.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll see you guys soon." Iruka waved goodbye and there was no need for him to force a spring in his step when he walked towards Kakashi. It was all for Anko's and Genma's benefit, of course.

Iruka and Kakashi exchanged greetings and they set off towards the festival area where a temporary marketplace had been set up near the shopping district. Iruka was not really surprised to see that Kakashi had actually properly set up shop in the stall that he had arranged for him.

"How's business?" Iruka sat on one of the stools Kakashi had placed next to his stall.

"Pretty good actually. I might actually make money on this."

"That's good," Iruka took a sip of the sake that Kakashi had passed him. "What are your plans after this?"

"Nothing much. Thought I'd stay for a while longer this time to, you know, catch the sights."

Iruka's heart seemed to think that it was in a race, the way it sped up at the wink Kakashi, no, it wasn't Kakashi, was it? It was Sukea who winked at him, Sukea who was the one flirting, and it would do Iruka's heart much good to understand as soon as possible.

They spent a few hours chatting and Iruka was amused to see that Kakashi… Sukea (it would be best if he kept both Kakashi and Sukea separate even in his thoughts) was actually a pretty good salesman. Granted, many of the people who came up were older women, and they all seemed to be more interested in Sukea than his goods.

Or maybe they WERE interested in his goods.

Iruka snorted into his sake at his own joke. He did understand the woman's fascination with Sukea, it was a fascination he had himself, although for Iruka, it was more for Kakashi instead.

"Having you here was a good idea."

"Oh?" Iruka helpfully pulled the other side of the cloth over the cart as Sukea packed up his remaining wares.

"Quite a few of my customers were parents of your kids."

"Ah," Iruka shouldered his bag and they both set off; towards Ichiraku, even though Iruka hadn't said anything.

"Yeah, it's a wonder how so many of them seemed to think that I was extremely lucky to be in your presence or something."

Iruka coughed, hand covering his mouth to hide his smile, "Well, they're right though."

Iruka teasingly bumped Sukea's arm at his snort, and they kept up the banter all through dinner, making their way to the festival proper once they were done. It was still relatively early, but there was still quite a lot of people milling around. At one point, there was a crowd that had gathered to look at the one of the streets performers, and the 2 of them ducked into an alley (or rather, Iruka pulled Sukea into the alley), only appearing about 5 minutes later, clothes rumpled and Iruka blushing fiercely while Sukea had a pleased look on his face.

++++++++++

Kakashi hid in the shadows as he watched Iruka walk out of the alley with his clone. Smart Iruka had a tag on the clone that would allow him to supply it with chakra so it wouldn't dissipate so quickly. Kakashi had never even heard of a tag that could do that, but Iruka had only shrugged and rubbed his nose.

An action that Kakashi was beginning to find very adorable.

Maybe when the mission was over…

Maybe not.

Most definitely not.

Kakashi was already on the roof even before Iruka had walked back out into the main street. His sources had told him about some incidents in the northern part of the village. It interested Kakashi enough that he decided it was worth paying it a visit.

Kakashi stopped at the broken stone archway that once had been the sign proclaiming that it was the beginning of the old shopping district. The northern district had been one of the first areas that had been destroyed by the kyuubi. The village never got around to fixing it after relocating all the residents of that area, and now it stood as a stark reminder of one of the worst days of Kakashi's life.

Ducking behind a very convenient wall, Kakashi did one more check of all his weapons. He was only supposed to be on reconnaissance, but an unprepared ninja was a dead ninja. A quick glance at the darkening sky told him that he had about 5 hours before he was supposed to meet back up with Iruka. The other man knew where he was supposed to be, and would know what to do if Kakashi was not back on time.

Guess this was one date that he better be punctual for then.

A whisper of cloth over stone caught his attention and Kakashi shrank deeper in the shadows of the wall. He kept his chakra tight and low, just in case there was a sensor near. Kakashi strained his ears, but he couldn't hear anything even with his chakra-enhanced hearing. Kakashi cursed, and glanced around, if he kept low, he'd probably be able to get closer by using the shadows cast by the dilapidated buildings.

4 more hours until he was due back.

++++++++++

The day just kept getting odder, Iruka thought, as he watched Kakashi's-clone-as-Sukea handle the customers. He was actually doing pretty well for a fake-last-minute sake seller.

Some people could turn anything into gold.

Iruka moved up to tap Sukea on the left shoulder, feeding a little of his chakra into the seal at the same time. Due to the lower levels of chakra in them, normal clones usually dissipate a lot faster than shadow clones. But with the seal that Iruka had modified for Ibiki, Iruka could keep the clone around a lot longer, even if he wasn't the one who had made it. There was another benefit to doing that. As long as the clone didn't suddenly disappear, Iruka would know that Kakashi was fine.

It didn't mean that Iruka wasn't still worried. Not that Iruka didn't see the redundancy of him feeling that way. It wasn't like Kakashi had never been on more dangerous missions. He was only doing recon, and he was still in the village where reinforcements were only moments away. 

And above all, Kakashi was an extremely competent ninja.

But the thread of worry grew in Iruka and he found himself glancing at clone Sukea more frequently, taking reassurance from him.

"Oh ho ho ho… Looks like he's got it bad, don't you think so, Genma?"

Iruka groaned softly, but the tap on the back of his head told him that Anko still heard him as she sat next to him while Genma took a seat opposite him.

"I'd say so, never thought that Iruka'd be the kind to put dick before friends, but here we are, Iruka-less." Genma winked at Iruka even as Iruka made a face at him.

It had been a bad idea to set up Kakashi's store near the dango place, but that had been the best place that Iruka had been able to find. 

Also, Iruka liked dango too, damnit.

Anko waved at the proprietress who nodded and started pulling out sticks of dango. She obviously knew who Anko was.

"If I pay for this round of dango, could I get you guys to shut up?"

"Maybe." Anko's grin was blindingly bright.

Iruka paid for the dango; he really didn't mind his friends poking their noses into his business. If this had been a real relationship developing between him and Kakashi but... it wasn't. He… They were just doing a job and nothing would come from it.

Iruka did wonder if he would ever be able to see underneath Kakashi's clothes.

Anko's snickers made Iruka realised that he was staring at Sukea, and he grabbed the stick of dango in her hand, blushing hotly. He ignored his friends as he stood. It was time to replenish the chakra.

But before Iruka could reach the clone, Sukea disappeared suddenly. Iruka felt his stomach drop at the same time as the bottle Sukea was holding onto splintered into pieces as it crashed onto the floor. At the same time, a messenger bird swooped down and landed on Iruka's shoulder.

"Iruka, what's going on?" Genma and Anko were immediately at his side.

Iruka scanned through the missive, and trying very hard to ignore that his hand was trembling.

"Sorry guys, I can't explain much now but something's happened to my partner. Anko, could you get get reinforcements and make your way to the North District?"

It was a measure of their friendship that Anko left without question and Iruka set off towards the North District with Genma following closely. On the way there, Iruka explained that he and Sukea were both on an undercover mission. Genma had only nodded.

As they rushed through the village, Iruka could only hope that they were not too late. The mission from the Hokage had mentioned that they should make their way to the Hokage Tower as soon as possible. The urgency of the missive and the fact that the clone had disappeared quite suddenly had Iruka adding more chakra to his legs and pushing himself faster. 

Part of Iruka was actually relieved by the sounds of combat that rang through the deserted streets of the North District. Worry and anxiety filled him as Iruka slipped his kunai out of his pouch, Genma a silent but reassuring presence next to him. The part that was tight with worry loosened slightly at the sight of Sukea fighting with the enemy.

He'd even seemed to be holding his own.

"Stop!" Iruka yelled. "You are violating City Ordinance! If you do not stop and identify yourselves, we will not hesitate to step in."

Iruka caught the wry look Sukea threw him and returned that look with a shrug that said, "Regulations."

With Iruka and Genma joining the battle, and since it seemed like Sukea had always been in control, they made quick work of the enemies. By the time Anko arrived with the reinforcements (ANBU!!! Iruka's brain spluttered at the 2 masked figures that appeared behind her), they had already had the enemies tied up and were discussing how to bring them back to the village holding cells.

When the cat masked Anbu approached Genma, he only shrugged and pointed his senbon towards Iruka.

"Best if you ask Iruka, Anbu-san. I was only the backup."

Iruka gulped as the mask turned towards him. Anbu had always made him a little nervous, despite knowing that he had done nothing wrong. It was just that Iruka was good enough of a ninja to really understand how good the Anbu was. That much power in one person…

And THAT was always why Iruka always felt just a little bit nervous around Kakashi. He knew that Kakashi would never turn against his comrades, but Iruka taught foundation skills to shinobi hopefuls, he KNEW how crazy difficult the kind of jutsu Kakashi knew were. That bit of nerves was why his heart sped up whenever the other man appeared, and he definitely never looked forward to the few times Kakashi would make his way to Iruka's desk at the mission desk.

Iruka approached the Anbu, "Anbu-san, I'm not sure what has been told to you, but Sukea-san and I are on a mission under direct missive from the Hokage. Any report that I… we make will have to be the Hokage directly."

The Anbu nodded once, and Iruka relaxed.

"In that case, Genma-san, Anko-san, could you assist Mouse and see that these men are brought to the holding cells?" A look from the cat mask had the other Anbu, Anko and Genma moving.

"Iruka-san, Sukea-san, I will accompany you to the Hokage's office to make our reports." Cat mask turned away from Iruka and Sukea and disappeared, obviously expecting them to follow him.

Sukea only shrugged and Iruka sighed. Giving his thanks to Anko and Genma, he and Sukea set off towards the Hokage Tower.

He was not looking forward to the meeting with Tsunade-sama.

++++++++++

When Kakashi was suddenly unable to feel his chakra, he actually felt momentary panic. This was not the emptiness of chakra burnout, and in any case, he hadn't used enough chakra for that to happen, but a sudden cut of chakra flow. Even with chakra cuffs (and that one was nightmare that Kakashi never want to be in ever again) on him, he'd still had been able to feel his chakra; he might not have been able to use it, but he could tell that it was still there.

At the same time where his chakra had cut off, his presence has been detected by one of the summons of the men that he had been following him. Even though they couldn't see his physical body without his chakra masking his presence, they had felt his presence easily enough. He had been a little too close too them.

Rookie mistake and one that might have had more serious consequences if it had happened to anyone but Kakashi.

He'd lifted his hitai-ate and had actually been relieved by the red that entered his vision. It told him that he still had chakra in his body, he was just unable to access it directly. And given the memories that flooded his mind, Kakashi deduced that his clone had also dissipated. Which meant that Iruka should be on his way with reinforcements. Which meant that Kakashi only had to hold off the people who were currently surrounding him for a short while.

So, instead of trying to escape, Kakashi retaliated with taijutsu. He might not be as taijutsu mad as Gai, but he was sure that he was able to hold his own against this particular. As they exchanged blows, Kakashi noted that while these men had some sort of training, they were nowhere near any level that could be a problem for him. That didn't mean he relaxed his guard, but it did mean that he would have a higher chance of surviving until reinforcements arrived.

He almost laughed out loud at Iruka's proclamation when the other man arrived. He settled for risking a quick look instead. The look and response that Iruka showed him had been amusing, but he did end up having to avoid a punch thrown his way in a hurry.

They were still contemplating how to bring the men back to the village holding cells when Tenzou appeared with another Anbu he didn't recognise. Seemed like they had Tenzou training new recruits, which might or might not blow up in their faces. But Tenzou was surprisingly well-adjusted, so it might work out for everyone.

Kakashi had let Iruka take point and stood to one side watching him arrange things with Tenzou. Tenzou knew who he was since they had taken undercover missions together before. Kakashi signed that he had no chakra at the moment, and he knew Tenzou had seen it. So he wasn't surprised that instead of teleporting back near to the Hokage Tower, Tenzou had elected to run there.

He and Iruka arrived at the Hokage Tower just moments after Tenzou did, and were ushered into the office immediately.

When they entered the office, Tsunade were sitting at her desk while Shizune was standing behind her, looking worried. But a movement to the side of the room caught Kakashi's attention, and when he noticed he was, Kakashi could only hope that his gulp was not as loud as it felt. It was probably quite loud, judging by the eyebrow Iruka raised at him.

"Good job, Cat. You can stand down for the moment. I'll hear your report after you get the information from the men we've captured."

A quick nod and Tenzou disappeared in a puff of smoke. Tsunade turned her sharp eyes at Kakashi and Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei," Tsunade motioned for the both of them to move forward. "You can report first.

Kakashi listened carefully to Iruka's report, to make sure that he didn't repeat anything Iruka said, of course.

It had nothing to do with how he had grown to really appreciate Iruka's voice the past few days.

Nope, nothing to do with that at all.

Then Iruka was done with his report and it was Kakashi's turn. He kept nothing, including the fact that he was unable to feel his chakra at that moment. That statement had Iruka gasping softly and shifting slightly closer to him. Tsunade, on the other hand, only rubbed her temples.

"As expected. We had similar results from the test we ran on the blood samples collected. It's… Maybe it'd be better if you explained it, Dr Mori."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The doctor, who had been standing closer to the wall moved out. He bowed his head to Tsunade and Iruka, but raised an eyebrow when he turned towards Kakashi. 

"Why am I not surprised that it was your blood we tested on, Sukea-san?" Dr Mori sighed.

Kakashi coughed and scratched at his left cheek. "You know I don't do these things on purpose, sensei."

Another sigh. "I know… That's the problem."

Kakashi shrugged, he was just doing his job. It wasn't his fault that he was good at his job or that his job placed him in situations where he ended up waking in a hospital bed more often than most people. He also noticed that Iruka had once again moved slightly closer to him, and he wondered if Iruka was even aware of what he was doing. But Dr Mori started his report and Kakashi pushed those distracting thoughts away. There would be time to think things over later.

There had been a lot of medical and technical terms in Dr Mori's report. Kakashi would check the terms he wasn't sure out later, he suspected that the report was also partly for Tsunade's benefit, but he understood enough to grasp the gist of it. Basically, he somehow got chakra blockers in his blood. But it also seemed that unlike the ones that they were familiar with, this one was almost impossible to detect until it activated. And unlike other chakra blockers, you didn't even need to use your chakra for it to start working. Good news was, while it did block active access to chakra, the body was still able to use chakra passively.

The bad news was that they currently had no way of extracting it from the blood, or even neutralizing it. Dr Mori was confident that they would be able to find a way soon, and oh, they needed more blood samples from him. There was also a chance that the body had developed antibodies to fight the poison.

But that meant that Kakashi was still out of commission and stuck in the village. Hopefully they'd be able to find out more information from the people that they had captured.

At this point, there was also no longer any need for Kakashi and Iruka to continue on their pretend relationship. 

That was for the best.

++++++++++

After Tsunade dismissed them with orders to rest, Iruka spoke briefly to the doctor. He was pleasantly surprised to see Sukea obviously waiting for him with a surprised expression on his face.

"How…" Sukea gestured to the doctor who had only glared at him as he walked past. "How are you on such good terms with him?"

Iruka grinned. He knew of the doctor's reputation amongst the jounin. It was also rumoured that Dr Mori was one of the medic-nin who attended to Anbu, but no one had ever confirmed it. Jounin only got themselves in trouble with the doctor because of the insane lengths they pushed their bodies, and THEN, ignoring the advice of the medic-nin after that. There was a sign stuck on the back of the doctor's door that read, "You may be invincible but you are not immortal."

There was a splatter of dark brown on one corner of the sign. No one dared to ask if that was blood but general consensus was that the doctor had threw the sign at one of the escaping jounin and the sign had cracked the ninja's head open. As far as Iruka knew, that was actually true.

But when the doctor was not terrifying jounin, he was also one of the attending physicians attached to the academy, even when Iruka was still an academy student.

And he had been a close friend of Iruka's parents.

"He's one of the attending academy doctors." Iruka continued smiling. No one else needed to know of the pranks he'd played on some jounin with help from a certain doctor.

Sukea's eyes narrowed, but Iruka only shrugged. They ambled along the streets in comfortable silence. Iruka wondered they'd be able to still do this once Kakashi was back on duty.

He really, really wanted to do so.

"Ah, Sukea-san," Nothing for it. It wasn't in Iruka's nature to not take any action. "Want to grab some dinner?"

"Ah, Iruka-sensei," Sukea, with a slightly embarrassed look on his face with a hand rubbing the back of his neck, an action that Iruka somehow recognised as Kakashi's as opposed to Sukea's. "I… think that that might not be a good idea."

Iruka stopped walking suddenly, so suddenly that Sukea took two steps before he realised that Iruka was no longer next to him. "You've read my file, haven't you."

"Ah…" 

Iruka knew that he was right when Sukea's eyes slid away from his face to focus at a point somewhere above his ear. Iruka sighed.

"Sukea-san, I'll admit that I'm attracted to you. And I would like to see where we can take this. But if you're not interested, I understand that too. I'm only proposing dinner, not marriage."

Iruka could see that he took the other man by surprise. It was true that Iruka had made a bad mistake before during an old mission, but Kakashi was a comrade, someone he's known for a while, so Iruka was relatively certain that the other man won't take advantage of Iruka.

Besides, Iruka was more than certain that Kakashi was at least a little bit interested.

"Well?" It also wasn't in Iruka's nature to be too patient.

"Only if it wasn't ramen."

He probably looked like an idiot with the huge grin on his face. "That's not a problem."


End file.
